Sleepwalk
My most recent project is SLEEPWALK: The Dream of Lady Macbeth. Based on my original concept and musical composition and realised in collaboration with my partner Ken Edwards, the piece re-imagines the sleepwalk scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the context of the horrors of the present day: wars, famine, climate emergency. It references and evokes many other aspects of Shakespeare’s tragedy, not least the return of Birnam Wood at the end – in this case Nature’s response to humanity’s ravages.
Performed in 2025/26, it features Afrit Nebula with dance artist Yanaëlle Ritter as Lady Macbeth, and moving images by film-maker Mark French. More details and production pictures/videos at the Afrit Nebula website.
The Spirit in the Dust
This project was also a multi-media collaboration between myself as composer of the music, Ken, Yair Katz (Afrit Nebula), Mark French and Butoh dance performer Yumino Seki. It received three performances in St Leonards and Brighton in 2023/24. The photo was taken by Rebecca Sinker at our performance at Fabrica in the Brighton Fringe Festival.
More details and production pictures/videos here.
Bulverhythe Variations
During the Covid lockdowns in 2020/21 I went for early-morning runs along the seafront and beach in Bulverhythe, East Sussex, near my home. Drawn to patterns and structures in the natural and manmade environment, I began taking photographs using my mobile phone. Experimenting with different ways of presenting these images, I found they seemed to fall into a narrative of their own, relating to a series of piano variations I was composing.
The images and music, together with texts by Ken, were incorporated into a live piece with Ken's narration which has been performed several times, most recently at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery. The gallery also mounted a small exhibition of some of the photos in January–March 2026. A larger selection of photos and Ken's texts were published as a book by Silverhill Press in 2022.
You can stream the music, buy the album as a download or CD, view some images and buy the book at the Afrit Nebula Bandcamp page.
Afrit Nebula
Ken and I formed the trio Afrit Nebula in 2015, initially with Jamie Harris on percussion and vocals. Jamie left the band in 2021 and Yair Katz joined us on drums, percussion, guitar and vocals. I play saxes, flute and keyboard. Ken plays bass guitar and sings. Our band is influenced by avant-jazz, rock, Middle Eastern and Afro-Cuban styles. Matthew Wright said in Jazz Journal: “Strong bass lines from Ken Edwards and Yair Katz’s lively drumming form a bedrock on which the sinuous lines of Elaine Edwards’ soprano sax flourish, with Dervish-like circular excursions.”
We have recorded three albums. You can read more about us and follow links to stream the music at the Afrit Nebula website.
Previously, I co-founded The Moors, which played live in the Hastings area, Brighton and further afield between 2009-19.